Diamondbacks-Giants Preview: Break Time!
By Thomas Lynch
Mike Bolsinger looks for win number two tonight against the Giants. Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Today begins the final series for the Arizona Diamondbacks before the All Star Break. The Snakes will be in San Francisco to take on the Giants, the team they played in their first series of 2014 in the United States. The last time these two clubs met was June 20th-22nd at Chase Field, where the Giants, who were struggling to hold onto first place at the time, managed to take two out of three games. San Francisco is now in second place in the National League West with a record of 50-42, just one game behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. The D’backs are 39-54, last place in the division but only a game and a half behind the third place San Diego Padres.
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Tonight’s pitching matchup features Mike Bolsinger against Tim Lincecum. The rookie Bolsinger is looking for his second win of the season while Lincecum has been hot as of late. He has allowed only one earned run over his last three starts, totaling 23 1/3 innings. This game also may feature the return of Mark Trumbo who has been out since April 22nd with a stress fracture in his right foot. On Saturday, Wade Miley looks to put together his third good start in a row and finish out this tough first half strong. He will be opposed by Ryan Vogelsong, who defeated the D’backs on June 21st despite allowing four earned runs in five innings. The finale on Sunday has Chase Anderson going for win number seven against Madison Bumgarner who will be making his league-leading 20th start of the season. The 24-year old lefty went eight strong innings in his last outing vs. Arizona allowing only two hits in a 4-1 Giants’ victory.
Perhaps the bigger news is the guy who won’t be pitching for the Giants this weekend. D’back killer Tim Hudson was hammered yesterday by the Oakland A’s so he naturally will miss this series. However, another pain for the Snakes will be playing this weekend. Brandon Belt will be in San Francisco’s lineup after missing the previous series against the D’backs with a broken thumb. Paul Goldschmidt will try to continue his torrid stretch as he is batting .441 over his last ten games with nine extra-base hits. Trumbo’s return will jumble the outfield. Will Ender Inciarte be sent down or does the team cut Cody Ross? It doesn’t seem as though David Peralta is going anywhere, not with his .325/.351/.460 split since being called up from Double A Mobile.